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Automation checklist for new buildings and renovations

Early in your process, initiate consultations with SCLS Automation consultants.

Keep appropriate SCLS consultants apprised of changes as they occur.

Your new library or remodel should include plans for the electrical and network requirements for the next 20 to 30 years.

Once you have a floor plan, determine what business functions will occur in what locations. Is the floor plan able to accommodate all the necessary business functions?

Plan for:

staff and patron workstation (PC) and printer placements

easy access to network and electrical connectivity

furniture that takes into account PC and printer dimensions

The library will need to include a telecommunications closet in the building design. The telecommunications closet will hold network equipment (routers, switches, CSU/DSUs, patch panel(s), floor or wall-mounted network rack or cabinet) for both the LINK and non-LINK networks. The telecommunications closet should be:

clean

dry

well-ventilated

secure from patron access

out of the way of routine work areas

The closet should contain a double duplex electrical outlet on a dedicated circuit for the LINK network equipment. If the building will have a non-LINK network, additional electrical outlets should be installed in the telecommunications closet.

Automation will need at least 12 weeks advance notice before you plan to connect or re-connect to the LINK network. Automation staff will then contact the state. The state will then contact SBC. SBC will contact your local phone company. Your local phone company will install a data line to your building. The data line will terminate in a device called a smart jack.

If the smart jack (see reference above) is not located in your library or it is more than seven (7) feet away from the network patch panel, you will need to contract with a network cabling company to install a network cable between the smart jack and the patch panel. If this task is not done, you will not be able to connect to the LINK network.

All network connections and components must meet “Category 5” (Cat5) cabling specifications. This standard describes (among other things) wire gauge and maximum signal attenuation over a specified distance. This category of cabling will support up to 100 Mbps communications (100 Megabits per second). Enhanced Category 5 cabling (Cat5e) is preferred if available, and will carry data up to 350 Mbps.

An eight-conductor twisted-pair cable (100BaseT) must be installed bwtween each LINK workstation and the cabling patch panel. Data cables must terminate at each end in a female data jack, pinned straight through according to the AT&T (568B) standard pinning scheme. Jacks must be mounted in wall plates, floor plates or patch panels. Each jack must have a label with a unique jack ID for each cable run. The patch panel terminus must have the corresponding jack ID.

Confirm that furniture or shelving does not obstruct access to network jacks and electrical outlets.

Confirm that computer lab furniture has cable management features for power cords and network cables.

Confirm that each device that requires network connectivity has its own network jack.

Confirm that all furniture that will hold PCs and printers has been received or installed prior to requesting PC or printer installations.

Plan for equipment orders and possible hardware processing time relative to when you want to define the project "completed."